Sam Yetter

The power of music goes beyond the classroom, it reaches the home, family, friends and neighbors. Not every child will become a professional musician, but music can still flow through every child. When you introduce music to someone, you are learning more than notes, rhythm and pitch: you learn collaboration, community, patience, and understanding. Music goes beyond the page and connects people that may share many differences, but they can come together and work towards a collaborative goal.

Students can use much of what they learn in music in other academic subjects and life. In a choir not everyone can choose what individual pieces we do but the choir can collectively choose a piece together. Learning a choir piece requires others to listen to the other parts, to understand they are not the most important part, but every one together is. Part reading in choral music can teach students to focus when other things are going on, to be dependent and listen to others. Students in a choir need to work together, and they can each learn off of each other.

In the classroom individuality is very important. Each student has different likes and dislikes, and who am I to force students to learn things that will not engage them because it is the norm. I will take students interests and guide them into a more rich and complex musical understanding. They will be able to take their music project as far as they would like to go, and any guides, people, websites, videos I will make available for them to learn from. Finding examples in real life connect what happens in the classroom to the real world. I believe that finding people the students would look up to or learn from should come in and share their knowledge.

Music is about the notes on the page just as it is a story the composer believes the world should know. Especially now we need to hear the voices of underrepresented groups in music to make their works the normal as well.

From elementary to high school, I hope that students see music surrounds their lives. Even if not singing all the time, the principals and skills learned in music will continue with them. When students walk out of music or choir, I want them to think this is a fun class that can lift their mood when down. Even when out of school, I hope that if they hear a song they sung, they remember that positive time in choir. My hope is that they see music connects others, while they sing during a family event, when they’re down, when they’re happy. Music should connect a students family, life, and community, it can bring them together despite differences.